"The space programme epitomises India's scientific achievements and benefits the country in a number of areas," President Pranab Mukherjee told lawmakers in a speech opening a new session of parliament in New Delhi.

"Several space missions are planned for 2013, including India's first mission to Mars" and the launch of its first navigational satellite, he said.

India says the Mars mission will mark a significant step in its space programme, which has already placed a probe on the moon and envisages its first manned mission in 2016.

A host of countries have previously launched missions to Mars, including the United States, Russia, Japan and China.

India has a well-established space programme, which began in 1963, that is a source of national pride. But the programme has also attracted criticism as the government struggles to tackle widespread poverty and massive infrastructure problems.

The constellation of Virgo (The Virgin) is especially rich in galaxies, due in part to the presence of a massive and gravitationally-bound collection of over 1300 galaxies called the Virgo Cluster. One particular member of ...

(Phys.org)—A small team of researchers from the U.S. and Italy has found evidence of a naturally formed quasicrystal in a sample obtained from the Khatyrka meteorite. In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, ...

As a cosmic dust magnet, Saturn's C ring gives away its youth. Once thought formed in an older, primordial era, the ring may be but a mere babe – less than 100 million years old, according to Cornell-led astronomers in ...

If this is true, and especially if it's successful, it would mean NASA and ESA bear some sort of audit to figure out how they really spend the TENS OF BILLIONS they spend on their missions, since we spend something like 50 times that per mission now...

Rather than stupidly use the low price to accuse NASA of widespread waste, use it to increase your understanding of why American Corporations are so eager to eliminate visa restrictions for Indian high tech so they can fire all the high paid American ones they currently employ.

Everything in India is dirt cheap vs a vs the West not only the USA, so it make sense that sending a probe to Mars would cost a tiny fraction of the price the West spends to do the same thing JUST AS it cost a fraction of the cost to maintain a call center in India than it does to do the same in the West. It's so low, that none of the costs of establishment proved to matter.

FINALLY, India's probe will NOT contain the cutting edge electronics Western probes do, no billion pixel cameras, or helium cooled systems. They will only do what's been done before, and that's fine.

India is seeking to its mark in interplanetary exploration, not impressing Western observers.

More curious than all of this is how some western observers can talk negative about aid to India whilst the UK stole billions from India not to mention enslaving and massacring its people under the British Raj (whatever the hell that even means). Sorry, this, and I suspect the next few, are set to be Asian Centuries. Suck it UP!